5. "ano sa" ("hey, you know...")

Daine was scared. It had happened before, and it would happen again, at least it would happen again if they survived the day. What she knew though, was that right then she was afraid and it had everything to do with the weary feeling in her bones and the magic she had already wasted defending them.

He was run dry, just like her, no magic left to tap into. And he was physically exhausted as well. If they hadn't spent so long fighting, so long running and obeying commands they might have had time to recuperate for this battle. As it was, a battle that would have normally been of little concern under their supervision had gone disastrously wrong.

He shifted against her side and she instantly rested her hand against his head to still him. She had been waiting for him to wake, and wasn't surprised to feel him blinking into awareness.

She couldn't spare him the attention she wanted to. Couldn't check to be sure he was okay, because all her weary focus was on the single passage, a small fissure that lead to the outside of their hidden cave.

She had got them there, under her own powers when his had failed him. He had fainted somewhere between the battle and the escape but it hadn't mattered. She'd used her magic, shifted her muscles, made herself strong to bare his weight and with the last ounces of that magic she had found this cave and hid them both inside.

The bats had told her where it was, even though she could hardly hear them, they had called at her, and the other animals had done their part to lead her there. Now though, she couldn't hear a word the People where saying, but their silence let her know they understood she was hiding.

"Daine?" Numairs dry voice cracked.

She shushed him quickly, her hand going over his lips to silence anything he might have said in protest.

Nearly an hour had passed since she had gotten them here, and for the entire hour she had heard the things outside moving. Immortals, humans, who ever else had been in the fray. They where looking for their targets and she suspected they would only be to pleased to find her and her teacher.

He shifted out from below her hand, pulling himself up from the ground and once he was settled, eyes adjusted to the dark she knew he was looking at her.

If he looked hard enough he would see just how much strain she was feeling. She had been nearly exhausted before dragging him into hiding, she had been tired from days of work and weeks of fighting. Now she was on overdrive, a step beyond exhausted she had rarely experienced in her life. Her hands where shaking, her body with them. Her hold on the bow against her knees had to be re-tightened every few minutes because the grip kept slackening. She was trying to be ready, knew she had to be for both of them incase one of the monsters, human or immortal, found their way into the cave.

He moved closer to her, the space between them small already, and stopped with his mouth up near her ears. She didn't even flinch, couldn't afford to, the arrows ready to be fired, their last defense if it had to be.

"They're out there still?" He queried in a nearly silent voice. She nodded, tight lipped and silent, holding that fear back with all she had. Bad things had happened before, to them both, when they where by themselves and when together and she knew they could survive. She also knew that it would require everything she had to make that survival occur.

He pulled back, settled against the near wall, their legs still touching in the small cave and she knew he was thinking. Parts of her where less scared now he was awake. He was smart, smarter then her, and he would think of a way out of this, a way to survive.

She trusted her life to him, she trusted everything to him, because he was her world.

"You need to rest." He told her finally, although this time he did not draw near to her, just whispered the words across the small distance between them. The cave wasn't large, just a small fissure they could hide in until they found a safer option.

She didn't reply, barely acknowledge him, her attention beyond their little haven and on those sounds her ears could still hear. The movement of people, the movement of the enemy beyond their shelter.

He drew up beside her again, his fingers touching her arm and she flinched, surprised, not expecting contact and afraid of losing her grip on the weapon.

"Daine." He insisted, his voice a little harder, though no louder. "You need to rest." He was speaking into her ear again, close, so close she could feel his movements instead of see them, but still she did not move. He growled at her, a word or two of annoyance she didn't even notice. When they came, she would be ready.

"Damn it, Daine." He ground out. Then his hands caught her own, the ones holding her weapons the ones ready to defend. He tried to detach her hold from them and she responded like a trapped animal who only knew survival.

She jerked away, her back hitting on of the cave walls, her weapons up between them and aimed, ready to kill. Then she paused, her shaking limbs shocked as she stared into his familiar and concerned eyes.

"Numair?" She wasn't sure how she had forgotten he was there, or why she hadn't thought it would be him. No one else was in there, just the bats silently moving about above them in the dark. With the sound of her voice his expression went to one of exasperation.

"You need to rest." He restated, and she recalled him having said that several times already. She tried to motion, to explain and he moved over to her, catching her shaking wrists still and forcing her to meet his eyes. He hesitated, watching her expression then gave her a soft smile. "Hey, you know where going to get out of this right?" His head tilted to the side to watch her expression, and although tired he was gratified by the small smile she gave him. Impulsively he kissed her forehead, an action of reassurance for them both. "Now get some rest, I'll keep watch for a while."